All posts by Daniel Mpala

Authentication and mobile security solutions company Entersekt made history this week by becoming the first South African startup to raise funding from the global investment firm.
Entersekt, which was founded in 2008 and now services clients operating in 45 countries, intends to use the investment to drive further international expansion and to fund research and development. No further details of the investment were provided by Endeavor.
Endeavor Catalyst is the co-investment fund of global non-profit Endeavor. Endeavor Catalyst was launched in 2012 to invest in Endeavor Entrepreneur-led companies.
Endeavor Catalyst exclusively invests in Endeavor Entrepreneur-led companies
Although Endeavor South Africa opened its offices...

The 2017 edition of #cocreate2ACCELERATE 2017 came to an end in September. Dutch Consulate representative Romy van Baarsen describes the programme as being a "movement to drive real business and impact".
“Most of the programme was on the go and involved meetings, connections and customer interactions," she added.
Launched in 2016, #cocreate2ACCELERATE is an initiative of the kingdom of the Netherlands. It aims to foster enterprise by matching Dutch and South African tech startups in the belief that, by doing so, the startups can co-create solutions to local challenges.
#cocreate2ACCELERATE 2017 focused on agritech, bluetech, edtech, fintech and healthtech
In addition, the programme also aims to facilitate a...

How passionate are you about your business? How far would you go to create a minimum viable product (MVP)? Would you, say, invest all of your personal savings?
Meet Craig Wing (pictured), a South African who has done exactly just that. Wing is the founder of HackR House, an initiative that aims to support tech entrepreneurs. Applications to its beta-pilot phase closed yesterday (2 October) while applications for its second round will close on 16 October. The full programme is scheduled to launch in February next year.
Wing believes that entrepreneurs need round-the-clock support. He came up with the concept around HackR...

Entrepreneurs looking to sell their tech solutions to corporates can register to join a recently launched online platform.
Launched last week by BCX, a Telkom owned company, SpliceWorks aims to become a match-making service between tech entrepreneurs and big business and claims it can “turn your big idea into a big business”.
While it is open to any tech entrepreneur to join, BCX has selected 70 tech entrepreneurs to trial the platform which has been in testing since April.
“SpliceWorks was specifically created to source the latest and greatest digital technology to not only transform the Telkom Group and BCX but also our enterprise customers into digitally fit businesses,” SpliceWorks...

Airbus Bizlab head Bruno Gutierres told Ventureburn that his trip to Africa is an "observation survey" to confirm what potential there was in Africa.
On Thursday (21 September) Gutierres (pictured) along with a team from Airbus Bizlab and Silicon Cape head Ellen Fischat visited RLabs, LaunchLab, CITI Workshop 17 and the MTN Solution Space as part of a tech tour of the local ecosystem.
"What I have seen here today and by visiting several incubators like Launchlab in Stellenbosch, the ones in the township, there's some very different innovation which is of interest to us," said Gutierres.
"This confirms that the potential is there....

Cape Town-based airship startup Cargonaught has won the Airbus BizLab AEROmobility pitching competition.
The startup beat six other startups to clinch an all expenses paid trip to France and Germany, where the company will meet experts from Airbus and get technical support for three-months thereafter.
The other finalists to pitch at the event held at the Bandwitdth Barn in Cape Town include: space optics startup Simera Technology Group, drone startup Tai Corporation, Think Big Solutions, Hi-Fly Marketing, space tech startup New Space Systems and data analytics startup Aerobotics.
Global aerospace accelerator Airbus BizLab held the challenge in collaboration with Silicon Cape. Judges at the event...

With cash making up 94% of financial transactions in Africa there is a plenty of opportunity for the fintech sector on the continent -- says John Conlon, digital director at Visa Performance Solutions for Central Europe, Middle East and Africa.
“The key message is partnering with fintech (startups). Open platforms and partnerships is the way forward,” said Conlon (pictured above).
Speaking to Ventureburn on the sidelines of the Visa Merchant Forum that took place yesterday in Cape Town, Conlon said Visa has created over 100 application programming interfaces (APIs) which fintechs could access. An API is a tool that allows developers to access the IT...

Cape Town-based drone and data analytics startup Aerobotics has clinched The Digital Insurer (TDI) European 2017 Startup Insurtech Award.
Aerobotics was yesterday one of four finalists selected to present in a technology showcase that saw the award winners selected through a live vote by conference attendees at an event held in London.
The other finalists include Shift Technology which has developed a fraud detection solution that uses artificial intelligence (AI), South African startup Nuva Law which has put together an inter-party negotiation and adjudication platform and CBien a digital inventory management platform for personal belongings.
While Aerobotics walked away with the award, another South African startup Nuva Law...

African incubator Injini -- which claims to be the continent's first ever edtech incubator -- has selected eight startups from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and South Sudan to join its first cohort which will kick off on 9 October in Cape Town.
Injini co-founder and CEO Jamie Martin (pictured above) told Ventureburn yesterday said the startups were selected following a pitch event on 8 September. He added that the names of the startups would only be unveiled after the startups have signed contracts on 10 October, at a launch event which will take place at the University of Cape Town.
The six-month incubation programme begins on...

Barely a year old, Johannesburg based online trip exchange platform EmptyTrips has been having a good year. The startup won the Africa Chivas Regal Venture Pitching Den at the SA Innovation Summit earlier this month and will represent South Africa at the 2018 Startup World Cup in San Francisco next year.
EmptyTrips will next take part in the Slush Global Impact Accelerator in Finland between 21 November and 2 December. The startup has also participated in Singularity U Global Impact Challenge where it was one of the top five finalists and in the annual Seedstars competition where it was placed third in the SA leg of the competition.
The five-month old company...